Beaver Island History - Helen Collar Papers
Irish Immigration to Michigan - General
In 1806 Detroit had enough Irish so there was a city-wide celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Large-scale Irish immigration, however, came during the late forties & fifties, when political & economic conditions in the motherland were such that thousands of Irish migrated to the U.S. & Michigan received a considerable number of them. Although many Irish located in Detroit, others, even before the Civil War, found their way to towns in the southern tier of counties. The "Irish Hills" section in Lenawee County received its name from the Irish settlers of the '40s & '50s.
- Quaife & Glazer, Michigan, p. 323
Hard times in 1856-58. Did this help send the Irish to B.I.?